This invention relates to musical keyboards and the transpositions involved in changing key signatures when playing a musical instrument through the keyboard.
Correlation of the arrangement of a standard musical keyboard with that of a standard musical staff is a problem confronting musicians and musical students for a long time as recognized, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,009,194 to Smith. According to the Smith patent, this problem is dealt with by markings placed on the keys of a standard keyboard that is not otherwise altered. The correlation problem arises because of the provision of seven adjacent white digitals for each octave on the standard keyboard and five black digitals in groups of two and three to cover a total of 12 equitempered tones per octave. The fingering sequence applicable for playing different major scales therefore differ from each other and from the arrangement of musical notations on the musical staff from which instructions for fingering the keyboard is derived. As outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,893 to Coles, various methods have been proposed for alleviating the difficulties incident to the different fingering sequence called for by the key signatures noted on written music. In all of the prior art teachings referred to including the Coles patent itself, the basic standard keyboard arrangement is retained. Only key switching and pitch changing systems are relied upon to modify keyboard operation in an attempt to reduce the fingering sequence learning problem.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a new keyboard arrangement compatible with the fingering experience acquired by playing of standard keyboards, which more closely corresponds graphically to the arrangement of a musical staff.
A further object is to provide in association with the new keyboard, a system for selecting key signatures without requiring any change in fingering sequence.
Yet another important object is to provide a player keyboard which will offer new and expanded options for fingering chords and passages while still retaining all of the fingering patterns to which use of a standard keyboard is limited in accordance with musical theory principles well known in the art.